The Blood Bowl Re-Animation

While looking for some other stuff recently, I stumbled on a box containing a lot of Mutant Chronicles/Warzone stuff - and most of my Blood Bowl possessions.

The playing field had warped a bit, so I bought a clear acrylic sheet to place on top (can also be used for other board and wargames), and set up my two painted teams - The Oakhill Rangers, and Da 'Eadbangerz.

I did not get around to playing a game that time around, though - my birthday was coming up, and I had to make space for setting the table for the birthday dinner.

What Have We Got here...?

The mailman brought me a little something today...

I shall be unboxing and reading rules the next couple of days, and as soon as I have finished painted the female Barbarian for Lea's Sellswords & Spellslingers party, I shall start working on two of the female survivors so that both Anna and Lea can join me in some TWD; All Out War co-op.

Hey, That's My Fish

Played a couple of games with Lea, yesterday. It is a fun and fast game, so I only managed to snap photos at the very start of each.

After two games, the score was 1-1, and we called it a day. We still look out for he next vacant afternoon where Anna can join us for another run of Settlers...

Gaming With the Kids: First Game of Settlers

First time I played Settlers, I really did not like it much - I felt horribly constrained by the constant lack of resources, and probably did not quite 'get' the game. So, it lived a life in oblivion on our boardgames shelf for a couple of decades, until today, when looking for something to play with Anna and Lea, I decided to dust it off.

I have played a lot of boardgames with resource management since my first brush with Settlers, some of them with the girls, so we actually got stuck in quite nicely from the beginning.

Anna played the Red faction, Lea the Blue, and I got the Orange party.

Development was pretty slow in the first part of the game, mostly due to a lot of unlucky Resource Rolls.

I focussed on upgrading my Settlements to Cities, as this doubles the Resource Yield. If you think you have gone colour-blind, it is because we deceided to switch Anna's pieces with the green ones from the 5-6 Players expansion.

During the last third of the game, my Cities really payed off, allowing me to snatch Victory by building the longest Road, and placing yet another Settlement, and playing University of Catan (1 Victory point).

Both the girls really wanted to play again right away, but I decided that it would be getting too late (we would have to start after dinner, and today is a school night), so we shall have to postpone the re-match unitil Friday afternoon, as the girls have activities all the other days of the week.

2018-09-01: Euphrat & Tigris

Lea had a school friend sleep over on September 1st (her parents were at some party or likewise for adults only), and we seized the opportunity to play a four player game of Euphrat & Tigris.

The kingdoms quickly spread throughout Mesopotamia.

I never controlled very large portions of the board (played the Bow dynasty), and during most of the game I was certain that I was way behind Lea and Anna, but in the end it turned out I won by a comfortable margin - I think it must have been due to me focusing on having my Leaders getting bonuses from the monuments, because it felt like I was having the living daylights kicked out of me...

3D Printed: Door Frames for Imperial Assault

A friend of mine asked if I could print some pieces found on Thingiverse for FFG's Imperial Assault, and of course I accepted.

The first one I printed without reading the instructions, so it was printed top side up, with supports which would have been all right if the new filament (Fiberlogy) did not require other temperature settings than my other brands (3DE and Spectrum), and caused a lot of bed adhesion problems.

This attempt ended up with a lot of visible stepping, and a slight layer shift close to the base. I also had to remove supports from the narrow slot in which the cardboard door is supposed to fit, which is rather tedious and difficult work. I would say, with a bit of filing and sanding, it will probably be passable, but of course I was not content with this.

The solution to the adhesion issue was to not just print at higher temperature, but only do so on the first layer, lowering the nozzle temperature for the rest of the print - which also means that I can get good adhesion AND print a low speed!

I then read the instructions that said to print in reverse orientation, with raft and supports, and I did so with lower print temperature. Only problem with this method is that the top (bottom) layer does not come out very smooth, and will require some filling/sanding (probably just some filler primer), and I felt that my printer should be able to do better.

So while I printed a second piece with those settings, I pondered how to do it.

I decided to try printing right side up, with raft and supports, but while this gave a nice top, it once more required a lot of material to be removed from the finished model (including the door slot).

So I played around with the Cura settings until I succeeded in printing directly on the glass bed (higher first layer temperature with some glue stick applied), and the fourth door frame is the first piece I have printed that way (but hopefully not the last). I printed it upside down, with supports (although they probably were not necessary), and as the first layer is shaped by the surface of the bed, it turned out almost perfectly flat.

The photo is a bit blurred in the foreground, could not get the focus to work without a proper light setting, but you get the idea.

There will be some cleaning up to do, especially around the small buttons, but nothing an experienced miniatures gamer will find difficult. I think I shall try printing one without supports tomorrow, as I would like to see how clean a result I can get...

Another Game of Euphrat & Tigris

After playing Splendor, I got my ass handed to me by Anna in our second journey to the Land between the Rivers.

Had I only joined our realms in my last turn, I could have snatched victory away from her, but I did not think clearly at that point - and you have to learn as long as you live!!

More Gaming with the Kids

Along with Star Wars Legion, I had ordered this board/card game, set in the Renaissance.

It is about gaining Prestige through Wealth... sort of.

Once again, we had a blast trying to outguess each other and thwart each other's plans.

I pulled another narrow victory, but I look forward to the whole family playing this (2-4 players in this version, expansions are available)!

Summer Holidays: Passing Time With the Kids

Some days ago, I broke out this game that I bought some years ago at a sale.

First time I tried reading the rules back then was an evening after a long, hot, sweaty day, and I got confused and put it away.

This time, though, I sat down with Anna and Lea and we played through a game after a brief overview of the rules.

Everybody quickly grasped the concepts, and we had a blast building kingdoms and fighting 'wars'.

I managed to win a narrow victory, but the girls are actually quite good at boardgames, and the next time would not be an easy walk for me!

Gaming Day

Both the kids and I have autumn vacation this week, and today we spent most of the day together, playing cards and boardgames, and watching Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl.


Here we played ZombieTown.

Anna dived out of the frame, as she does not like having her picture taken (sometimes). I remember disliking it when I was in my teens, too, so I let it pass with a remark and a shrug.

The game takes a couple of turns to pick up completely, but it is one of those games you can just set up and start playing, figuring out the rules along the way, which is great for playing with kids.

As we were only 3 players, the zombies never quite put a lot of pressure on us - as each player ends their turn by moving a number of zonbies corresponding to the number of the current game turn (day), the fewer the players, the less zombie movement between a player's turns.

It was a nice game, though, we used most of the rules, and I won by a single point against Anna who came in second. Lea was just happy she survived.

After ZombieTown, we played Mutiny (and I forgot to take pics), a bidding game where you have to use gold and rum to gain influence over the key crew members of a pirate ship. This time, Lea drew the longest straw, an is now the proud captain of a bunch of scurvy dogs.

Mutiny led me to pull down Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl from the shelf, and we drew the curtains and cuddled on the couch. Unfortunately, my copy of the film seems to have too many scratches, and I had to take it to the bathroom to grind it with toothpaste several times, before I gave up and rented the film from our cable-provider (at DKK 19 (€2.55/£2.29/$2.81). I need to get a new copy for the physical collection (yes, I am old fashioned that way!).

Attic Attack IV: Day 2, DreadBall

A couple of guys from Svendborg arrived Saturday morning to try out DreadBall. My male Corporation team was pitted against some Veer-myn brought by Tobias, who arrived from Odense with Ulrik, and Tobias did the rules teachings and guided the rookies through the match.

I think the game ended 3 up for the rats, and both rookies seemed to have enjoyed the experience. Maybe we shall see a small tournament in the overseeable future...?

First Game of Marco Polo...

...and probably my last.

The concept of the game is nice enough, but every move is governed by the compass-like 'wheel of fortune' on the board; you spin it, and it points to the number of spaces you may move your pawn - OR indicates that you have been assailed by bandits/pirates (in which case you don not get to move at all). and when you have spent 3-4 turns moving 1 space and/or fighting bandits (probably losing some of your precious trading goods along the way), all the while your opponents move freely across the board, amassing fortunes through trading, the game begins to feel a little dull.

If the game could be finished in less than an hour, I would not mind the randomness, but at this point we already played 2-3 hours, and were only about half way through (the players need to return to Venice with their amassed wealth after visiting Kublai Khan and carrying out a mission for him).

Well, at least the game requires players to read cards, and to do some simple math, which is good for the kids - especially Lea, at only 10.

Getting Ready for Marco Polo

All set for trying out the next of my recently purchased board games. It is a step up in complexity from Columbus, which is very simple, as Marco Polo includes trading, fighting bandits/pirates, accepting missions from Kublai Khan, and returning to Venice with a certain size of valuables.

BoardGame: Columbus

One of the second-hand games that arrived today is Columbus - a game about finding your way to the New World and be the first to get back to the Old World with the news.

Basically, it is about constructing a passable track, placing sea tiles that can be navigated, all the while trying to block the path of the other players by placing hazards and/or removing parts of their track.

This is a in-progress photo of our first game - both Lea, Anna, and I played, and Anna snatched victory right under the nose of both Lea and me.

We played another game, and although I managed to reach North America before both the girls, Anna made better use of the map features (some of the tiles allow you to move faster than normal, when starting your turn there), and, again, emerged victorious,

We all enjoyed the game, but I think it is best suited for 4-6 players, as more tiles will be placed in between every player's turns, thus opening up the map at a higher pace - and enabling more obstruction on the leading player.

Merchants & Marauders: First Game Finished

Lea and I finished our first game of M&M earlier today, and we called it a draw, as when I claimed victory by revealing my stashed Gold, Lea said that she was not aware of the Gold contributing to the Glory total, and that she was certain that she had sufficient Gold stashed away to reach 10 Glory before her first Captain died in an attack on Treasure Island.

I like the game very much - the option to earn Glory by trading, and not just by fighting, means that you can avoid the attention of the 4 powers' Naval Ships (and there is bound to be at least a couple of those patrolling the waters of the Caribbean early on with 16 of the Event Cards drawn at the beginning of every Game Turn bringing in a Frigate (or Man-o-War, should the owning nation be at war)).

Next time we play, we shall use the Glory Cards, and the special harbour rules (printed on the map), and, hopefully, persuade Anna to join the fray-

Board Games: Second-hand Deal!

I bought these games very cheaply on Facebook Sunday evening, and the kids and I are going to try them out over the next couple of days.

The forecast says it is going to be pouring down almost all days this week, so even though I start my 5-night work week Wednesday, we are going to have lots of time for indoor activities, as the girls ar well into their school holidays.

Åcon: Some Photos From Saturday

Some participants did not trust their tents to withstand the  hardships of Esbjerg summer nights...

A game of Valor & Steel & Flesh. I did not participate, just took a couple of pics.

Some Sci-Fi game. I do not recall having heard the name of the rules.

 In the evening, King of Tokyo was providing mayhem and mirth. 

Åcon: Friday Late Night Gaming

I did not play any more games Friday, apart from Nuclear War, of which I have not got any pics (it is a card-based game without much to show).

On another table, though, some Deadzone was played.

And some of the guys had a splatter-fest with Zombicide: Black Plague

Merchants & Marauders: First Game in Progress

Lea got up early this morning (when she heard me rummaging in the bathroom), and she still has an age where she wants company (Anna has turned on full teenager mode and reads books in the seclude of her room), so I decided to skip most of my plans for today, and get out Merchants & Marauders.

I had hoped to lure Anna into participating, but when I finally managed to pull her out of her sleep (about 10.30 a.m.), she promptly disappeared into a book.

Lea and I played most of the day, and we still have not used all the rules, as the game is somewhat complex (not least because everything is in English, and Lea is not yet quite sufficiently versed in that) - but we traded a lot, and I only started raiding merchants after claiming a mission that required me to do so.

We have not finished the game, yet, and we shall not do so until tomorrow, as I had to take advantage of the sunny dry weather this afternoon to get the front lawn mowed (it has been raining a LOT, lately, and a trimming was long overdue).

Board Game: Merchants & Marauders

I purchased a couple of board games from Hyggeonkel the night before yesterday, and they arrived with the postal service while I was sleeping today - and luckily, my youngest daughter, Lea, heard the doorbell.

I have not had time to read through the rules, yet, but the game looks very good. Both plastic and cardboard components seem good quality, and this Danish Design game comes with zip-lock bags for all the small components - a first for me with this kind of game!

I am looking forward to try my luck as a daring privateer on the Spanish Main!